Water aggregation delivers up to 10% price reduction on market average
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) wanted to help customers gain better value for money by accessing lower billing and improved servicing.
The requirement
Since 1st April 2017, public sector business customers can now choose their water provider for retail services. CCS, in collaboration with public buying organisations; YPO, Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO), North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO), West Mercia Energy and The Energy Consortium (TEC), have put in place the first public sector water framework agreement to enable customers to access the market
Recognising customers pay anything between 6-13% for retail water services, CCS wanted to help customers gain better value for money by accessing lower and transparent billing and improved servicing.
The solution
CCS delivered the UK’s first aggregated further competition for water and wastewater services for public sector customers using our framework (RM3790), which enabled customers to switch supply as early as 1st January 2018. CCS leveraged the combined volumes to attract supplier competition and ran an EU procurement compliant eAuction and sealed bid process. The CCS eAuction offered both monthly and quarterly billing options. CCS evaluated supplier responses against rigorous value and quality criteria, awarding to the most economically advantageous offer.
The result
The further competition, which took place in October 2017, brought together the water and wastewater services of 122 public sector customers, amounting to £40 million spend. The results of the competition were communicated to participating customers.
The recommended suppliers for the monthly billing and quarterly billing options were Castlewater Ltd and Business Stream Ltd, respectively. By 31st December 2017, 34 customers, comprising central government departments, councils, NHS trusts, schools and colleges, had signed call off forms. These customers have achieved an average 4% reduction against the retail market average, with some customers achieving up to 10% reduction.
In financial terms, this equates to between £100 and £10,000 saving per year depending on the size of the estate. All customers who participated in this further competition and who submit call off forms by 14th February will benefit from these great rates and other framework benefits for the next 2 years and will have the option to extend by 1 year. All public sector customers are still able to access the framework via further competitions.
A quick reminder on some of the benefits:
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financial savings - on average customers have achieved a 4% reduction against the average retail margin from this competition (with some customers achieving up to 10% reduction)
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personalised service - dedicated account manager
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improved support and query management - dedicated customer service team
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choice of billing format - consolidated billing, electronic billing and paper billing
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governance - quality service provision with suppliers monitored against framework KPIs, regular reporting and meetings with CCS
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Time and resource savings - from simplified procurement process and supplier rationalisation.
Get involved
If you would like to find out more about this framework, or join our next aggregation you can:
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Call us on 0345 410 2222